User blog:FEARattata/A Dummy's Guide to Damage Calculations
So apparently if I make a blog post and add pictures to it I get more of those achievement point things and begin outranking people, so why the heck not? Halloo, peoples! I'm bored, I don't want to write an essay, so I'm just gonna post the different mathematical formulas that are used within the Pokemon games to calculate stats or damage and stuff. Why do you want to know this? I dunno. I mean, they have that calculator on Pokemon Showdown. But whatever, eh? So, the first thing to know is the damage formula. This is the damage formula: Looks complicated, eh? Well, it's not when you really get down to it. It all just comes down to plugging numbers in. * Level = Level of the Attacking Pokemon (Higher levels = more damage) * Attack = Attack (or Sp. Atk, if the used move is Special) of the Attacking Pokemon * Defense = Defense (or Sp. Def, if the move used is Special) of the Defending Pokemon * Base = Base power of the attack (Example: Brave Bird is 120, Magical Leaf is 60, etc.) Now, what about that Modifier, eh? What does that mean? Well, that's a new calculation entirely. Once again, it just comes down to plugging numbers in. * STAB = Same Type Attack Bonus. Insert 1.5 if it applies, 1 if it does not. * Type = Type effectiveness. Insert 0 for noneffective, 0.25 for very ineffective, 0.5 for ineffective, 1 for neutral, 2 for Super Effective, and 4 for Extremely Effective. * Critical = Insert 1 if it is not a critical hit. Insert 2 if it is a crit in Generations 1-5. Insert 1.5 if it is a crit in Generation 6, because that generation nerfed crits a little bit. * Other = Held item modifiers, terrain boosts, double-triple falloff, and the like go here. For example, if the Pokemon was holding a Sharp Beak, which increases power by 20%, you would input 1.2 here. For multiple boosts, put multiple numbers in. If there are no boosts, insert 1. * Random = The damage ranges between 85% and 100% of the full power of the attack. A random number between 0.85 and 1 is put here, and the damage is calculated with that. Now, how bout an example? Let's say that we are watching a level 75 Glaceon fight a level 78 Garchomp between two Pokemon White Version games. sI know I'm stealing the Bulbapedia example. Stow it./s The Glaceon's stats are distributed as so: * HP: 201 * Attack: 123 * Defense: 181 Meanwhile, the Garchomp has these stat totals: * HP: 270 * Attack: 210 * Defense: 163 Say that the Glaceon uses Ice Fang, a 65-power Ice-type attack, on the Garchomp. You start by calculating the Modifier variable, inputting numbers like this: Where the 1.5 is inputted for STAB as Ice Fang is the same type as Glaceon, 4 is inputted for Type as Ice Fang is x4 effective against the Dragon/Ground-type Garchomp, 1 is inputted for Critical as there was no critical hit, and there are no other variables, so 1 is inputted for Other. Inputting the Random variable, we get a range between 5.1 and 6. Now, we put this new range in for Modifier in the master equation, turning it into this: 75 is inputted for Level as Glaceon is level 75, 123 is inputted for Attack as Glaceon has an Attack stat of 123, 163 is inputted for Defense as Garchomp's Defense is 163, and 65 is put for Base, as Ice Fang has a base power of 65. Finishing the calculation, it turns out like this: This means that the attack will do anywhere within the range of 170 to 200 damage. Also, notice that we rounded down with this final step - this is important. With Garchomp's HP stat of 270, we can then determine that, even with a x4 weakness, Glaceon's Ice Fang will not be able to OHKO Garchomp. Now Garchomp retaliates with Earthquake, a 100-power Ground-type attack. Let's also assume that Garchomp is holding an Earth Plate, and that Garchomp's attack scores a critical hit. We can then fill in the Modifier calculation like so: Where 1.5 fills in for STAB as Garchomp's Ground-type matches up with Earthquakes, 1 fills in for Type as there is no type advantage, 2 fills in for Critical because of Generation 5's critical hit mechanics, and 1.2 filling in for Other, thanks to the Earth Plate increasing power by 20%. REMEMBER THAT 20% IS NOT EQUAL TO 0.2 - IT IS 1.2. Inputting the Modifier calculation into the master equation, along with all other variables, we arrive with this: With 78 filling in for Level as Garchomp is Level 78, 210 filling in for Attack as Garchomp's Attack stat is 210, 181 for Defense with Glaceon's 181 in Defense, and 100 for Base as Earthquake's base power is 100. Finishing the calculation, we can determine this: This means that, after rounding down, Garchomp's attack will do anywhere within the range of 241 to 284 damage. With Glaceon's HP only at 201, this will be more than enough to defeat the Glaceon. And that's really it. All it requires is putting in numbers. As long as you have the basic knowledge of you and your opponent, you can determine the damage with nothing more than a calculator. So, that's me blog post. I might make another one like this in the future. See y'all later. Category:Blog posts